


comfort cape

by revoleotion



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Modern AU, can be read as canon universe too, god those two are so sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26084278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revoleotion/pseuds/revoleotion
Summary: He wasn’t sure if he was able to do anything correctly. It had taken him falling deeper than he had thought it was possible to make him realize he had not only been trapped in something terrible, he had also contributed to the horror. Now, nothing was left but his very vague morals and the lingering sense of heartbreak.[...]“This is your fault,” Eli Vanto said. He was shivering just enough to make Ronan stare at him when he said it. The words came out a little less audible than Ronan was used to, and the accent was worse. It was easy to miss Krennic, his clipped accent and the way he knew what he was doing.
Relationships: Brierly Ronan & Eli Vanto, Orson Krennic/Brierly Ronan, Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	comfort cape

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this with the Tamsui metro station in Taipei in mind but I guess this works in every setting. I avoided using any sci-fi language, so this can be read as both a modern AU and the canon one.   
> I tried to put my "Treason" feelings into this and this is what happened: A lot of melancholy, my undying love for Ronan and my thranto feelings.   
> enjoy!  
> \- eli/ben

He wasn’t sure if he was able to do anything correctly. It had taken him falling deeper than he had thought it was possible to make him realize he had not only been trapped in something terrible, he had also contributed to the horror. Now, nothing was left but his very vague morals and the lingering sense of heartbreak. He didn’t deserve to feel heartbroken over this. Over getting disillusioned. Over getting to leave the person he had looked up to, he had loved, even though he hadn’t been aware that it had been love until the second his heart got broken. 

The worst thing was that he hadn’t lost his need for being loyal. He had felt it coming when he first met Thrawn, and had wanted to understand him so badly it had almost killed him. This hadn’t been love, or at least a different kind he was still getting to understand. 

Not that it was of any use now. He had lost both people he had obsessed with the most, and now he was left with someone he had insulted both behind his back and openly. He didn’t know how to fix this, nor did he care for it. 

“This is your fault,” Eli Vanto said. He was shivering just enough to make Ronan stare at him when he said it. The words came out a little less audible than Ronan was used to, and the accent was worse. It was easy to miss Krennic, his clipped accent and the way he knew what he was doing. 

“I told you we should take the bus and you said there was another one coming,” Vanto continued. “And I can think of a million things I’d rather do than being trapped here with you until Ar’alani gets us.”

The worst thing was that Ronan didn’t hate the situation they were in, not completely. The water looked even nicer in those hours that weren’t nighttime yet, even though the darkness and the falling temperature suggested it. Sitting here on the grass, staring at what might still be the sea or already a river finding its way into the landscape. The smells of the tiny night market were still all over the place, making him regret not buying more food. If he leaned back a little, he could see the stars winking at him and judging him from lightyears away. Ronan was convinced that every dead star out there was judging him. 

“Are you even listening?”

Ronan blinked. 

“Are you cold?” he asked. 

Vanto made a noise that was so annoyed, so human, that Ronan felt something in his chest shatter. He had given up on hating him, now that they were in the same boat. 

“I wouldn’t be cold if you didn’t make us miss the last bus,” Vanto said. Which wasn’t wrong but Ronan allowed himself to roll his eyes anyways. 

He lifted his cape that he still couldn’t live without and gestured for the other man to move closer. 

“Absolutely not,” Vanto said. But it was quiet and it didn’t take him long to sit down close enough for Ronan to cover him with the cape as well. They weren’t close enough to be intimate, just close enough to make Vanto stop shivering. 

“Did you do it on purpose?” Vanto asked. 

Ronan had asked himself the same question. The water reminded him of Krennic, of the construction sites of what Ronan now understood was a terrible, terrible weapon of mass destruction and had to be stopped. Just not by him, he thought, and blinked a few times to get rid of the burning sensation in his eyes. 

“Maybe,” he said. 

“I hate you,” Vanto muttered. 

“Do you want to lose your cape privileges?” Ronan asked. 

Vanto made another small noise, softer this time, and moved even closer until their shoulders were touching. 

“I wanted to stay longer. I didn’t think we’d be stuck here for this long,” Ronan said because he suddenly felt like he owed Vanto an apology. Not that he did. Not that he owed the traitor anything. (Or maybe he did because Ronan was a traitor now too.)

“Because you miss him,” Vanto guessed, correctly. That didn’t mean Ronan was going to admit it. 

“Who?” he asked. 

Vanto rolled his eyes. 

“Krennic. Who you didn’t stop talking about ever since I met you.” A pause. “You should stop thinking about him.”

Just weeks, days, hours ago, Ronan would’ve attacked him for it. How dare him treat this like a distant acquaintance he could just forget about? Ronan had dedicated his entire life to Krennic, he couldn’t just act like this hadn’t happened. 

“Well, maybe it’s easy for you to say-”

“It’s not.” Vanto sounded defeated. He didn’t clarify who he was talking about but Ronan found it easy to guess. 

Thrawn had put Ronan into this position and Ronan had been irritated at first but had quickly understood that it was the safest option for him. To Eli Vanto, putting him here must’ve felt like a breakup. 

“He doesn’t mean it,” Ronan heard himself saying. “He doesn’t think about those things. You were more useful to him out here than by his side.”

It sounded terrible, especially in this setting. The stars stared down on him with all their judgement. Vanto’s sobs were quiet but his entire body was shaking underneath the cape. 

Ronan put an arm around him without thinking about it. They stayed like this for what felt like an eternity, the heartbreak so intense that Ronan couldn’t tell where his pain stopped and Vanto’s started. The waves came closer, then fell back again. Everything about this was terrible, and yet Ronan could finally tell that it was the right place for him to be. 


End file.
